Crucial has already managed to stuff its m4 SSD into Ultrabook sizes, but the 7mm thick design may still be too portly for the thinner laptops in the pack. With that in mind, the flash memory guru has just started shipping the m4 mSATA, a barebones card that sits cozily next to the motherboard either as a cache for a rotating disk or as a main drive. It's still as speedy as many of its bigger cousins, with read speeds of up to 500MB/s per second. We suspect most buyers will be lured in by the low prices: at just $53 for a cache-friendly 32GB SSD and no more than $226 for a 256GB example, it's entirely feasible to give that spinning-drive Ultrabook a shot in the arm.

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Crucial m4 mSATA SSD for Ultrathin Laptops Now Available

New SSD Provides Powerful Performance in a Tiny Form Factor

Boise, ID, and Glasgow, UK, July 17, 2012 Crucial, a leading global brand of memory and storage upgrades, today announced the immediate availability of the Crucial m4 mSATA Solid State Drive (SSD), designed primarily to address the rapidly emerging Ultrabook™ category and deliver powerful, proven performance for systems where space is at a premium. The Crucial m4 mSATA SSD delivers the award-winning performance and reliability of the Crucial m4 SSD in a drive one eighth the size. Because of its tiny mSATA form factor, the Crucial m4 mSATA SSD can be mounted to an mSATA-enabled motherboard to serve as a primary storage in ultrathin laptops or act as a cache to complement the performance of an existing hard drive. Available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities with MSRPs of $52.99, $80.99, $121.99, and $225.99, respectively, the Crucial m4 mSATA SSD can be purchased now through select global channel partners, or directly at www.crucial.com.

The Crucial m4 mSATA SSD features sequential read speeds up to 500MB per second and offers inherent power savings, travel-worthy durability, validation for Intel® Smart Response technology and Dataplex™ caching software from NVELO. The Crucial m4 mSATA SSD joins the Crucial m4 SSD and the Crucial Adrenaline Solid State Cache Solution as part of the award-winning Crucial SSD portfolio.

"With the rapid growth in ultrathin laptops and the adoption of smaller system builds, consumers are increasingly in need of SSD performance in a smaller form factor. The Crucial m4 mSATA is designed for users who want the flexibility that a micro-sized SSD offers," said Robert Wheadon, senior worldwide product manager, Crucial. "In a form factor that's about a third the size of your business card, the Crucial mSATA SSD can also be used as a standalone SSD or as a cache for an existing drive."

Featuring the same advanced controller technology, Micron custom firmware, and high-speed synchronous MLC NAND that have made the Crucial m4 SSD a mainstay, the Crucial m4 mSATA SSD is engineered to deliver the same blazing-fast performance. The Crucial m4 mSATA SSD leverages the industry-leading memory, design, and manufacturing capability of Micron Technology and is backed by a limited three-year warranty.